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KERN, MADELEINE. Corps et morale entre geste et parole: la représentation de la séduction dans la comédie humaniste française de la Renaissance (1522–1612). Genève: Slatkine, 2009. ISBN 978-2-05-102097-8. Pp. 501. 65 a. Although the pursued young woman (“la séduite”) does not often appear on the French Renaissance stage, her seduction is nevertheless central to humanist comedy. Madeleine Kern examines the representation of that seduction in this book, dividing her study of twenty-six comedies into three sections. The first part, “Définir la séduction,” explores the tension in the comedies’ prologues between the dramatic necessity to represent the body on stage and the conventions of propriety that prohibited, or at least limited, its exposure. Kern reveals that the prologue not only sets the stage for the fiction that will follow, but, more importantly , it negotiates with the spectator. Although the prologues of these comedies ostensibly attempt to convince the audience of the pedagogical qualities and ethical goals of the play to follow, Kern demonstrates that the prologue’s primary function is to justify scenes of seduction in the play. The second section, “Représenter la séduction: la dramaturgie du visible et de l’invisible et les rapports de violence,” explores the means of representation that give life to episodes that happen offstage, in invisible and virtual spaces. Kern describes the typical physical space of the stage in Renaissance France. She also paints the invisible spaces, where events take place that cannot, or at least should not, appear on stage before the public. Kern describes the representation of the body in scenes of seduction, both those that occur on-stage, and those that are reported by characters in the play. She explores the multiple uses and meanings of disguise. Kern develops a typology of seduction, defining five categories of seduction and describing the techniques employed by sixteenth-century playwrights to represent each of them. In this section of her text, Kern also considers the relationship between violence and seduction. She explores the dramatic uses of violence in sixteenth-century comedy, both seen and unseen, violence that is threatened and that which is carried out. In the final section, “Dire la séduction,” Kern examines the poetic and rhetorical effects of the language of seduction. The language used in the discourse between the seducer and the seduced ranges from sublime to grotesque; it is at times direct, at times couched in metaphor. It can be delicate and courtly, but is sometimes frankly erotic and even verging on obscene. Kern’s analysis of the comic in the dialogue of seduction is particularly illuminating. Kern’s study reveals that scenes of seduction almost always involve resistance on the part of the woman. That resistance, though futile, is essential, for the young woman appears more virtuous to other characters in the play, and to the spectators, for having resisted . Nevertheless, as Kern points out, the mere physical proximity of a seducer , particularly in the young woman’s bedroom (which happens with startling frequency in these plays), brings shame on the heroine and on her family, shame that is resolved only through the marriage of the young lovers, which is the nearly inevitable outcome of seduction in French humanist comedy. Corps et morale entre geste et parole appears to be a doctoral dissertation published without much revision. The author has a tendency to describe at great length before arriving at analysis, and she is inclined to repeat herself within and across chapters. However, although the text would have benefited from some streamlining and tighter editing, it is nevertheless a significant contribution to criticism of French humanist comedy, a genre that deserves a wider readership Reviews 173 and merits further study. This book will become a very useful reference for students and serious scholars. Saint Louis University (MO) Kathleen M. Llewellyn LECLERC, JEAN. L’Antiquité travestie et la vogue burlesque en France (1643–1661). Laval, QC: PU de Laval, 2008. ISBN 978-2-7637-8367-0. Pp. 362. $39,95 Can. Cette étude sur les travestissements des années 1643 à 1661 a pour but de pallier le manque d’ouvrage global sur le sujet...

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